2018 Retirees

We are honored to recognize our retiring team members for their service to the students, families, and colleagues of Grain Valley Schools following their announced retirements! A reception was held in their honor Thursday, April 12, where they were each presented with a bell.

Kitty Snyder is the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at South Middle School, a position she has held for 16 years. She previously served as a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Grain Valley High School for six years and was also the Cheer Coach, FHA Sponsor, and Sophomore Class Sponsor when at the high school.

Lori Harris is the Computer Science Teacher at South Middle School. She previously served as our district’s PowerSchool Administrator and Network Administrator for our technology department. Lori’s first role with our district was as business teacher at Grain Valley High School.

Linda Gerteisen is a 2nd grade teacher at Prairie Branch, a role she has served for 6 years. Previously, she taught 5th grade at Sni-A-Bar, Matthews, and the middle school for 14 years. Linda taught 6th grade at the middle school on Main St for 3 years.

Don Snow has served as custodian at the Early Childhood Center and North Middle School for the past five years. Prior to his work with Grain Valley Schools, Don had a career as a machinist at Growth Industries Certified and at Mary Machine.

Allen Fails has served as a school bus driver for Grain Valley Schools for 10 ½ years. Prior to his work with our school district, Allen worked more than 30 years as a Mechanical Engineer, including 20 years at Lake City and 5 years with General Motors.

Leann Ortner has served as the school counselor at Sni-A-Bar Elementary for 20 years. Before that, she was the elementary counselor at Sherwood Cass for 5 years. Leann was our Featured Team Member in the school district’s Eagles View fall 2013 publication and was honored as a Woman of Distinction for the Eastern Jackson County Area in March 2017.